Technology and chemistry combine to take viewers back to a world before life began, in a new exhibition at the New Media Gallery.
aBIOTIC, featuring three installations from international artists, runs at the gallery from Feb. 4 to April 23.
“Before biosphere; before life, there were only the non-living, abiotic factors and a watery world,” explains a gallery press release. “The installations in aBIOTIC abstract and synthesize the mysterious and ethereal behaviours of the physical world. Technology and chemistry is used to reveal, choreograph or extend fundamental patterns and laws.”
The installations in the exhibition uses phases of water — liquid, gas and solid — as a physical, structural and expressive tool, with water, steam, bubbles and ice joining forces with manufactured or composed sound.
The exhibit includes Sky, a kinetic sculptural installation by Labofactory (the French collective of Jean Marc Chomaz, Laurent Karst, Filippo Fabbri and Greg Louis); The Long Now, a technology-based “still life” featuring a single perfect bubble, by German artist Verena Friedrich; and Infra/Supra, a water-based soundscape by Finnbogi Petursson of Iceland.
“Conceptually rich, the works convey notions of primordial beginnings, environmental systems and conditions, a world or life in balance, and the potential of technology to effect change,” says the gallery release.
Check it out: aBIOTIC opening reception set for Feb. 4
A public opening reception is set for Saturday, Feb. 4 from 2 to 4 p.m., with brief artist talks on the half-hour at 2:30, 3 and 3:30 p.m. All are welcome, and no reservations are required.
The New Westminster New Media Gallery is on the third floor at Anvil Centre, 777 Columbia St.
It’s open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, with evening openings until 8 p.m. on Thursday.
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, [email protected]
